Just submit your contact details and we'll be in touch shortly

The number of cigarette breaks you are legally allowed to take during a shift at work

Once an hour or perhaps every two? Will anyone even notice? It can be a controversial topic, but these are your rights to smoking at work If you’re a smoker, are you legally entitled to a few minutes a day out of the office for a quick cigarette break? It’s a question that divides many […]

23/10/2017by MrFinch

The dangers of using Whatsapp for work purposes

WhatsApp, the instant messaging app used by circa 1.9 billion people (according to Statista, July 2017), is in my opinion, the next best chat invention since MSN. With 58% of global users logging on more than once a day, the uses of the chat app are beginning to be recognised in the workplace. With WhatsApp […]

A paralegal employed by a personal injury firm under an oral contract was entitled to a bonus payment worth almost £14,000, an employment tribunal has ruled. Judge Wyeth said Ersan & Co Solicitors, based in North London, could not unilaterally vary a contract with Cemal Yucetas that entitled him to up to 10% of profit […]

09/10/2017by MrFinch

Sex discrimination: female chef excluded from working at all-male barbecue

An employment tribunal held that a female chef was discriminated against when she was rejected for extra work at a private event on the basis of her gender. Stephen Simpson rounds up recent first-instance tribunal judgments. Withdrawal of offer to female chef of paid extra work at all-male event In Ndebele v A Bubble Company […]

09/10/2017by MrFinch

Lawyers? Small businesses still prefer advice from accountants

Lawyers are still failing to persuade the small business community they are anything but a risk, the Conservative Party conference has heard. Martin McTague, policy director for the Federation of Small Businesses, said most of his members would prefer to fall back on self-help, advice from friends or even an accountant for legal support, rather […]

04/10/2017by MrFinch

Price transparency proposals ‘encouraging’ says super regulator

Regulators’ action plans for legal practitioners to publish prices up-front provide a ‘sufficient starting point’ to meeting demands for pricing transparency in legal services, the super regulator said today. The Legal Service Board said its assessment of plans published in response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) legal service market study suggests that regulators […]

03/10/2017by MrFinch

Hugh Hefner’s little-known lesson for HR

Hugh Hefner, who died at the age of 91 on Wednesday, lived a life that made media headlines – in two ways. He was the proprietor of Playboy Magazine and his lifestyle attracted the gaze of red-carpet reporters as well hacks who thought something else was up. However, during his early years, Hugh Hefner had […]

02/10/2017by MrFinch

Addison Lee wrongly classed drivers as self-employed, tribunal rules

Verdict in test case brought by three drivers against minicab firm could lead to wave of claims for unpaid wages and holiday pay Drivers for London-based minicab company Addison Lee could be owed wages and holiday pay after an employment tribunal test case found that some had been wrongly classed as self-employed. The tribunal in […]

02/10/2017by MrFinch

MP urges rethink on employment tribunal time constraints

Employment tribunal judges should be allowed more leeway to hear disputes that are brought outside of the time limit for bringing a claim, an MP has suggested. Conservative Mike Penning will use an adjournment debate in parliament today to call for more ‘autonomy’ for judges when they decide whether or not to hear a case. […]

14/09/2017by MrFinch

Aldi Stores fined £1m for worker’s severe injuries

Aldi Stores Ltd have been fined £1 million and ordered to pay £70,000 in cost after a delivery driver who had only worked for the firm for two weeks suffered severe injuries to his foot while operating an electric pallet truck at one of its stores. In a prosecution brought by Amber Valley Borough Council, […]